Last night, I watched a movie (from 2016) that romanticised rape. It was basically, the story of a girl who was emotionally blackmailed by her mother to agree to an arranged marriage to a socially awkward guy. She refused to have sex for a year despite his attempts to make things work. Eventually, on their first wedding anniversary, he tries to get her drunk (in order to ‘loosen her up’ for sex) and ends up getting drunk himself.
While drunk, he forces himself on her. In response to that, she slits her wrists. Following this, they get divorced and the following hour he spends most of his time stalking her (portrayed as something romantic and not creepy at all). As the third act kicked in, the scenario eventually started leading the girl into missing the guy and several cues started to indicate their getting back together because “he paid enough with his years of feeling miserable”. Needless to say, I was feeling like throwing up, so I stopped watching it.
What saddened me was the fact that the rape seemed to be justified with alcohol and the feeling of “a wife’s duty that wasn’t fulfilled”. The whole movie was focused on the fact that the husband was socially awkward and never had sex before and his (arranged) marriage to that woman was some social response to his situation as a man. What surprised me even more was the fact that the girl in question chose to get back with her rapist instead of a guy who has weird sex tastes. As if a woman couldn’t just be on her own. I am posting about this today because this movie was aired only two years ago. It romanticised the act of rape as an act coming from a need of love. You even had the music to go with it.
This was aired to men and women and children of the world to see. Some will be encouraged to minimise the weight of rape, others will use it to reassure themselves into thinking that even if they do it, it isn’t that bad, especially if alcohol is involved or if your libido wasn’t satisfied. As if, in these cases, you could violate the freedom of a human being. Penetrate that person’s body when they are not willing and steal your partner’s dignity in an act of pure selfishness.
This movie was one of a kind, and the fact that it was even allowed to be aired goes beyond me. But then again, this movie aired in a country from the asian continent so I guess the whole political correctness that is so prevalent nowadays isn’t there to act as a filter. However, this got me thinking. Are there hints and clues that romanticise rape culture in Hollywood? While some theories are a bit of a stretch for some, they are totally valid for others. Take Game of Thrones for example, one of the characters, Daenerys gets raped by her husband, eventually, they fall in love. Some would criticise this as validating rape. However, the act in itself was never portrayed as something romantic and Drogo (the husband who raped her), was never portrayed as the one suffering in the story. However, some would say that she suffered Stockholm syndrome but that’s another story.
If we tone it down a little, should we condemn emotional blackmail like in The Notebook? (where the actor threatens to kill himself if the girl doesn’t date him), or maybe the sexual harrassment in The Bridget Jones Diary? Both movies didn’t portray those as something to condemn but part of a romantic scenario. What is the line between forcing oneself (in anyway) on someone and an ethical behaviour? I’d love to read your comments on this, because I’m still figuring this out. To be honest, I still feel like throwing up from yesterday’s movie.
Red Scripts 